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Creswick Academy

Academy sponsor led in Welwyn Garden City, AL7 4FL, taking ages 4 to 11, 325 on roll.

Requires improvement Ofsted, Mar 2023
1.38 mi Admitted from, latest published year
71% Full
40.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 1.38 miles away.

Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.

The circle is 1.38 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Creswick Academy: 1.38 miles The Ryde School: 1.41 miles, published by Hertfordshire

This is not a catchment area. 1.38 miles was last year's outcome, not a boundary and not a promise.
How to read this

Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Creswick Academy is oversubscribed, places go outward from the school until they run out, so the distance moves each year with how many families applied and where they lived.

Distances are measured from the postcode's centre, not a front door; a postcode covers a few houses. Siblings, looked-after children come before distance, so a school can fill before distance counts at all.

Real admission areas are not circular: the circle is the distance, not a boundary. The labels on the map are postcode districts whose centre falls inside both circles; each opens the district's guide.

The address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.

Source: Hertfordshire, published admission distances

Where Creswick Academy and The Ryde School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. The Ryde School admitted from 1.41 miles in the latest published year, published by Hertfordshire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 1.38 and 1.41 miles, and the ground those circles share holds no district centre, which is a fact about where the centres fall rather than about any one address. The map above shows both, and the postcode checker answers for both.

Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.

Drop The Ryde School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Hertfordshire, 109 of 519 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (21.0%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together. How every council compares.

Other schools nearby with a published distance

The closest schools to Creswick Academy that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Holwell Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.54 mi 0.5 mi
Stanborough School Both in reach Secondary 1.32 mi 0.8 mi
Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery School Both in reach Primary 2.28 mi 0.9 mi
Applecroft School Both in reach Primary 0.65 mi 1.0 mi
Commonswood Primary & Nursery School Both in reach Primary 3.26 mi 1.1 mi
The Ryde School Both in reach Primary 1.41 mi 1.1 mi

The distance as a picture

Creswick Academy catchment area map: the 1.38 mile admission distance and the postcode districts inside it
Drawn to scale from the published figure, with the districts whose centre falls inside. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 325 pupils in 459 places (71% full)
TrustAGORA LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
Local authorityHertfordshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Requires improvement, inspected 05 March 2023
Meeting the expected standard 40.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 40.0%
2023/24 not published
2022/23 not published

Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.

Who goes to Creswick Academy

Girls and boys41.2% girls, 58.8% boys
English as an additional language15.4% of pupils
Free school meals26.2% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Creswick Academy

Cheapest district inside the 1.38 miles: AL7, median £425,000. Dearest: AL8, £489,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
AL7 Welwyn Hatfield 0.9 mi £425,000 62 sales
AL8 Welwyn Hatfield 1.2 mi £489,000 60 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 1.38 miles the school admitted from in the latest published year, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list. Districts without enough recorded sales to rank are not shown.

How this compares across England: what a tight gate costs, school by school.

Source: HM Land Registry sold prices, via each district's area guide

Getting to Creswick Academy by bus

Best-served stop: Boundary Lane, 0.2 mi away, with 7.0 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 01:47, last 23:47.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Boundary Lane0.2 mi6.94.03.1323, 653, 301, 724, 366, 331
Boundary Lane0.2 mi7.03.23.0653, 301, 323, 724, 366, 331
Burrowfield0.2 mi1.90.00.0323

These are scheduled departures, not buses observed running. Two stops on opposite sides of a road are two rows.

Source: operators' timetables on the Bus Open Data Service (Department for Transport), week of 8 Sep 2026

The fee-paying alternative

Weighing Creswick Academy against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around AL7: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at AL7 4FL, by the school: council tax, energy, prices, rent, stamp duty →

Checking the house as well as the school

The full report checks one address against every nearby school, with sold prices, flood risk and crime.

Common questions

What is the catchment area for Creswick Academy?

Creswick Academy does not have one in the sense most people mean. Like most English schools, an oversubscribed year offers places outward from the school until they run out. The nearest thing to an answer: the furthest child admitted in the latest published year lived 1.38 miles away, per Hertfordshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Creswick Academy?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 1.38 miles was enough in the latest published year. The distance moves every year with the number of applications, so treat last year's figure as evidence, not a promise.

Does buying a house near Creswick Academy guarantee a place?

No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings ahead of distance, so places can be filled before distance is reached. Councils also check that the address is genuinely where the child lives.

Every Hertfordshire school's distance

All Hertfordshire schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →

Put Creswick Academy's figure on your own site

A small badge with the published distance that links back here, for a school website, parents' group or forum.

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Creswick Academy badge

Admission distance published by Hertfordshire. School details from the Department for Education's register, ratings from Ofsted. Read how every figure on this site is sourced on the methodology page. If something here looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.